As usual, Nick was my right hand man on the job. We had the truck towed to Expo by Bach Towing and got it there around 2 PM. It took the entire duration of 2 to 5 to get the other elements of the Expo booth set up (simulator, table, TVs, etc). Cal Green of Speedway Expo rolled by about the time the show started and gave us a special present: a Dale Earnhardt Sr 1998 Daytona 500 lithograph by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. Bass sent up a few lithographs for the nonprofits at the show to auction off. The lithograph was amazing and we were able to sell quite a few raffle tickets.
Friday was a relatively show day at Expo, with not that many people at the show. We ran Guitar Hero III in the booth, which resulted in a steady stream of kids coming over and sitting down on the PS2. Raffle ticket sales were incredibly slow, with nobody buying a ticket in the first three hours (though we did have a few simple monetary donations). Toward the end of the day I walked by the Racing Against Cancer booth and found out they were selling their tickets for significantly less. We lowered the cost of the raffle tickets to the same as RAC's (something we should have checked on at the start), and sales quickly increased.
Saturday was much more exciting. From the moment the doors opened the Mallory Complex was packed with racing fans, despite the snow storm that was taking place. We removed Guitar Hero III from the booth and replaced it with a much more appropriately themed DiRT, an off road racing game that almost was named the 2007 Sports Game of the Year. DiRT is as much an off road simulator as it is a game, with the cars responding very realistically (for better or worse, depending on how you drive). Unfortunately we weren't able to acquire a steering wheel and pedals for the game, so we weren't able to complete the off road racing experience, which resulted in the game being played almost exclusively by the younger crowd.
The biggest moment of Saturday... hell, the biggest moment of the entire weekend, came Saturday afternoon when defending Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Horniday, who was at Expo for an autograph session, made a surprise stop by our booth. Ron was a great guy and showed significant interest in what we were doing, even though it was a Ford (Ron, if you're reading this, that one was for you). Ron signed the tailgate of the truck and made a bit of a donation to the cause. We were told later that on the ride back to the airport he was talking about our project.
Sunday was much like Saturday in attendance. Of course by the time Sunday rolled around all us exhibitors were getting a wee bit tired. So we really pretty much took the day easy and relaxed in the booth. The show ended at 5 and, thanks to Adam being there with us on Sunday, we managed to tear things down rather quickly, though the expert exhibitors still made us amateurs feel like we were moving in slow motion. Thanks to another Bach tow we got the truck back to the shop around 7 or so. We rolled it in, jacked it up, and with a little patience and careful maneuvering we got it back in its corner.
Of course the week after Expo, I flew out to L.A. for the Off Road Impact show. But that's for another blog (which I should have up by tomorrow). Till then, thanks for reading, dudes.
The truck with all its sponsor logos on for the show. It be lookin good
The Venture Crew 35 booth space at Speedway Expo
A few kids play the off road simulator
Nick sits with the truck and Sam Bass Lithograph
Ron Horniday and I, two great truck racers :-P
The back of the truck. Ron made sure he signed it big
Ron's autograph
There was a feature article about us in the Speedway Expo program
Tony Stewart's hearse. The most popular car at the show
Including the Crew Ranger there were only three off road trucks at the show (plus the Thrasher monster truck and a pair of buggys). This would be one of the three
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